A companion for the grief path – someone who has hiked its terrain for decades.
I’m Gyani Richards, founder of Our Grief Path. What I offer is shaped by more than four decades of contemplative practice, clinical grief training, and a personal grief path I have walked myself.
My grief path began at 13 when my father died.
When my father died, the very ground of my life ruptured, leaving me – and my family – in a sea of sorrow we knew nothing about. Like most people, we were completely blind-sided by the seismic impact of the tragedy. We had no training, experience, or preparation for how to be with the enormity of his death. But somehow, through grace and good fortune, we gradually sailed across that great ocean and found land again.
Mysteriously, a few short years later, I found my way to the world of meditation, yoga, and the healing arts. As though some part of my young and shattered psyche was searching for something that could not be taken, something deathless. That search changed the trajectory of my life forever.
I have spent more than four decades as a student of meditation, somatic inquiry, martial arts, and the great wisdom traditions of the world. These practices have been the reliable ground of my life, which deeply inform both my personal spiritual journey as well as my work as a grief counselor.
A meeting of two lineages.
Grief is an ancient river that has run through the center of human existence forever. Usually it remains quietly underground, below the view of ordinary life. But when the storm of loss arrives, it erupts volcanically upward into the landscape of our life. We commonly find ourselves swept off our feet, quite ill-prepared to deal with the chaotic and destabilizing force of this dark current.
My approach sits at the intersection of two lineages, which offers a unique method of support for the grief journey.
Clinical grief work
Explorative dialogue, witnessed storytelling, grief education, emotional/energetic inquiry, cognitive/belief system exploration, meaning-making, writing practices.
Contemplative practice
Mindfulness, presence, guided visualization, somatic inquiry, poetry, bearing witness, breathing – and many other reliable tools for learning how to hold and integrate grief.
Our grief is a doorway to our soul.
Grief is not a problem, but a lifelong pilgrimage to a riper version of ourselves.
With time and attention, the pain softens and we begin to forge a kinder relationship with our body, mind, and heart.
The wound of loss changes us forever.
There is no way back – only forward and into.
Grief is inherently mysterious.
There is no pre-determined road map. Only the courage to take one baby-step at a time as we develop the tools that support us on our journey.
Journey of the heart.
Ultimately, we discover that we are larger than our losses. That the power and possibility of grief is that it points beyond itself – to the borderless container of the human heart.
“The wound is the place where the light enters you.”
- M.A. in Counseling Psychology
- Certified Grief Educator
- Second-Degree Black Belt in Aikido
- 45+ Years Meditation & Contemplative Practice
Nature is my temple.
I love being in nature’s bounty – swimming and fishing in her rivers, hiking and biking her mountains, and sitting silently on the shores of her lakes.
Other interests include reading, writing, playing music, learning Italian, travel, and discussing the Great Mystery.
Reach out for a free consultation.
There is no pressure and no obligation. We will talk about what you are moving through, and whether the kind of work I do is a fit for what you are looking for.
Schedule Your Free Consultation